A singer in a band, choir, or other musical group often finds it difficult to hear his (which should be read “his or her” throughout this disclosure) own voice clearly amidst the background sounds of drums, electrically amplified instruments, and/or fellow singers. Without this feedback, the singer's voice can and often is off-pitch. Further, a singer can find it difficult to control the dynamics of his voice in an environment with high levels of background sound, and commonly finds himself screaming or belting out a song rather than singing it in a controlled manner. The ultimate result is a poor performance by the singer, which he often does not realize until listening back to a recording of the performance.
Vocal monitors exist to provide singers on stage with the ability to hear themselves over the loud background sounds of a band or fellow singers. Such monitors include, for example, stage monitors, often referred to as wedges, which are loudspeakers placed on the floor facing up at the singer. The singer's voice is amplified and reproduced through the stage monitors to allow the singer to hear himself more clearly. A problem with stage monitors is that they are large, heavy, expensive, and require electronic amplifiers and mixers which generally must be operated by a sound engineer, who may be dedicated to providing custom vocal mixes to a number of performances. Further, the loud amplified vocal sounds produced by the monitors can interfere with the overall house mix of the band's public address (PA) system, often making it muddy and difficult to control by a front-of-house (FOH) sound engineer. This is particularly true in smaller venues where sounds produced by stage monitors reflect off of walls back toward an audience.
Spot monitors are similar to stage monitors, except that they are smaller loudspeakers that usually are mounted on a stand facing the singer. While spot monitors are indeed smaller and lighter, they nevertheless require electronic amplification and mixers for operation and can also interfere with the overall house mix of the band. More recently, in-ear vocal monitors have become available. These are very small sophisticated audio transducers disposed within ear buds that a singer can insert into his ear during a performance. Amplified sounds of the singer's voice and perhaps other sounds are reproduced by the transducers directly within the singer's ear so that the singer has a personal monitor mix that cannot interfere with the overall sound of a band or vocal group. While in-ear monitors have proven somewhat successful, they nevertheless can be exceedingly expensive due to their high degree of electronic sophistication. They generally operate on small batteries, which can die or fail during a performance with dire results. Further, in-ear monitors require amplification equipment, mixing equipment, and the like, which generally must be operated by a dedicated sound engineer.
A need exists for a vocal monitor for use by singers in bands, choirs, and other vocal groups that is simple to use, operates without electronics or batteries, inexpensive, controllable by the singer himself without a sound engineer, and that cannot interfere with the overall sound mix of the band or group. It is to the provision of such a vocal monitor that this disclosure if primarily directed.